by Carlos Alcaraz has only played 27 top-flight games on grass, but Pat Cash believes he has seen enough to describe him as “the best player I have ever seen on grass”.
At just 21, Alcaraz is already a two-time Wimbledon winner, having won back-to-back titles in the last two years, defeating seven-time champion Novak Djokovic in both finals, while also winning the Queen’s Club Championship last year.
With three full grass-court seasons under his belt, the Spaniard has a 24-3 (89%) win-loss record on the surface and, while still in his infancy, compares favorably with the world’s greatest grass-court players of all time .
Eight-time Wimbledon champion Roger Federer had a record of 192-29 (86.9%) on the surface, while John McEnroe was 121-20 (85.8) and Djokovic is currently 120-20 (85.7%). lies.
Cash – who won Wimbledon in 1987 – believes Alcaraz is at the top of the list when it comes to the best lawn players of all time.
“He has no weakness. I almost think he’s one of the best… the best player I’ve ever seen at his best on grass,” he told Sky Sports Tennis.
The Australian stressed: “Never seen it, and I’m talking about ever seen it.”
“Because he is a young man, he took the best from Rafa and Federer and was able to adapt that. Without these great players he wouldn’t have had this and he admits that. He said without Rafa, “I wouldn’t be where I am,” but he just took the best of everything and somehow put it all together at the age of 21.
“I’ve never seen anything like this.”
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British player Liam Broady was in the studio with Cash when he made the “big statement” and although the 30-year-old is impressed with Alcaraz, he wouldn’t call him the greatest just yet.
“I understand what you’re saying. “He has the sheer power that Rafa had, but he has the lightness in his game and the aura that the Fed had,” he said. “He’s like a ballet dancer but with the ability to move like only Rafa could.
“He has the strength to play from the back of the court that Rafa had on a clay court, but he can also play on the court in the same way that Roger used to do with the SABR.”
“He’s probably one of the few players in this sport who can take your breath away with certain shots and you think, ‘How did he even do that?’.”
“He’s a player who doesn’t just do it once in a tournament, but four or five times in a game.”
Cash added: “We’ll see how he does as his career progresses. He’s obviously not that long-lived yet, but with the way he plays he definitely has what it takes to be one of the greats of all time like Federer, Nadal and Djokovic.”
